Build your Mini Cooper Hardtop

3 of 8The exterior of the Mini is slicker and more aerodynamic than the existing models.

Photo by Mini

4 of 8The new generation of Mini hardtops are slightly bigger in every dimension.

Photo by Mini

5 of 8This is the first Mini hardtop to share a platform with the BMW brand.

Photo by Mini

6 of 8The new Mini hardtop comes with optional LED headlights and integrated turn signals.

Photo by Mini

7 of 8The interior of the Mini has been changed a bit, moving the speedometer directly in front of the driver.

Photo by Mini

8 of 8The Mini hardtop will generate 134-hp, while the Cooper S' engine will churn out 189-hp.

Photo by Mini

We suspect that your initial inclination upon the discovery of a new model's configurator is to throw gobs and gobs of equipment at a car to see just how high the price will go. After all, that's what we tend to do.

It's especially satisfying with German automakers -- notably Porsche and BMW -- who seem to have turned option pricing into something bordering on absurdist theatre. And for all its protestations of Britishness, Mini is, of course, the unit of a German automaker bent on maximizing profit.

So yes, the basic Cooper starts at $20,745 (including a $795 destination charge). But load up the interior with connectivity, dispense with the manual transmission, tart up the exterior, heat/dim the glass, add a spot of displacement and performance-oriented suspension? We did just that and wound up with a Cooper S for which Mini will ask a rather heady $37,495. (For the record, if the author were building a Cooper S for himself, the tally would be a mere $34,345.)